Canadian Media, Ontario Legislature, Condemn ?Apartheid Week?
Adar 15, 5770, 01 March 10 12:29 by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu - Israel National News

...The legislature unanimously agreed with him and passed a resolution against the name, which Shurman says in effect means a monologue, not a dialogue. ?The name is hateful, it is odious and that?s not how things should be in my Ontario.? he declared. ?It?s a term that frankly I?m sick of hearing. Get rid of this word apartheid,? he said the term "is close to hate speech.?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MARCH 1, 2010

McGuinty Chasing Job-creating Investments Away

PC Economic Development Critic exposes Liberal failures on venture capital

?The government?s Ontario Venture Capital Program is a bust.  Despite set-up and operational costs that must run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, no funds have actually flowed from the three commitments made to date. That means that not a single job has been created by this program since it was set up over two years ago,? said Shurman.

National Post editorial board: Fighting toxic speech with smart speech
Posted: March 01, 2010, 8:00 AM by National Post Editor
Editorial, Canadian politics

...Mr. Shurman?s motion is part of a larger move toward support of Israel among Canadian politicians. Paul Martin and now Stephen Harper have both moved Canada?s voting record at the United Nations to a strongly pro-Israel stance. Michael Ignatieff has been an equally strong supporter of Israel. In May, Dalton McGuinty will take part in a trade mission to Israel ? an unprecedented move for an Ontario premier since the 2000 Intifada broke out. Even Jack Layton generally has kept a tight lid on the anti-Zionists in his federal NDP. As a result, anti-Israel activists ? including not only the IAW crowd, but also those who campaigned against last year?s Israeli-themed Toronto Film Festival ? have been shunned, or even denounced, by politicians.

The term ?Israeli Apartheid Week? incites ?hatred against Israel, a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights, and the use of the word ?apartheid? in this context diminishes the suffering of those who were victims of a true apartheid regime in South Africa,? said Shurman.
 
He rejected the argument that his resolution was not appropriate for the Ontario legislature. ?Israeli Apartheid Week? is an annual event in the province and Canada?s values are the same values as Israel ? ?democracy, education, individual freedom, human rights and the right to defend oneself from aggressors? ? he said. He noted that the values of Judaism and Israel, which go back over 3,000 years, were instrumental in the founding of Canada.

?If you?re going to label Israel as apartheid, then you are also calling Canada apartheid and you are attacking Canadian values,? said Shurman. ?The use of the phrase ?Israeli Apartheid Week? is about as close to hate speech as one can get without being arrested, and I?m not certain it doesn?t actually cross over that line.?

Shurman said that the event is a ?thinly veiled campaign by those whose real agenda is to eradicate Israel entirely.?

?Israel, while demonstrating some very remarkable positives, is, in the end, just like Canada or any other democratic country: not always right, and always dealing with political challenges. My resolution is, however, not about any of that. I raise it by way of asserting that I or anyone else can debate such issues any time, any place, as long as such a debate is respectful and fair to all who seek to express an opinion,? he said. ?That is precisely what ?Israeli Apartheid Week? does not do, and in our free environment, in our hate-free public forum, it has no place.?

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FEBRUARY 26, 2010
 
 

Is There a By-election Going On in Windsor?

PC Economic Development Critic skeptical of McGuinty bailout of Ford  
 

...?Today?s announcement brings the total bailout from Premier McGuinty to Ford Canada to a staggering $98 million.  That?s $130,000 per job that might materialize over the next 5 years ? there are no guarantees.  Hardworking Ontarians have a right to expect that their government, which has saddled them with a $25 billion deficit, would look for a much better return on bailout financing, funded with borrowed money.  This rich gamble is the desperate act of a desperate Liberal government that buys investments instead of creating conditions capable of attracting them,? said Shurman.

...?Given the current pattern of this government, not to mention that Windsor?s unemployment rate is still sitting over 10%, one might conclude there?s a by-election going on in that city too,? Shurman stated.

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Shurman, the member from Thornhill, moved a resolution to condemn the now annual event on Canadian campuses known as Israeli Apartheid Week,

?I want to be clear about what it is I?m trying to do,? Shurman said. ?I want the name changed. It?s that simple. It?s just wrong.?

Shurman said he had no objection to people criticizing Israel, or debating the thorny issues of Palestinians and the occupied territories.

?My problem is the name,? he said. ?Israeli Apartheid Week is not dialogue, it?s a monologue. The name is hateful, it is odious and that?s not how things should be in my Ontario. It?s a term that frankly I?m sick of hearing. Get rid of this word apartheid.?

Published On Thu Feb 25 2010

Robert Benzie, Queen?s Park Bureau Chief

In a rare show of unanimity, Ontario MPPs of all political stripes have banded together to condemn ?Israeli Apartheid Week.?

Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill) tabled the motion Thursday to denounce the sixth annual provocative campus event that kicks off next week at universities and colleges in 35 cities around the world.